Lady and the Hardarse
by dreadfuldread
Summary: She's seen him with scruff, she's seen him with flat, fluffy hair. She's seen him gruff and snarky, disapproving and challenging, even. Rose Tyler's seen the Doctor with many different looks, but not this one. Never this one. Because this is not the Doctor. (Originally posted on my A03 account, thelordvoldemort, on 8/16/14 Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or its characters.)
1. Bloody Reason

"You better have a bloody good reason for bloody wakin' me this bloody early in the bloody morning, Micks."

"If it makes you feel any better, it's a bloody reason," Mickey's tone held more irritation than amusement, but knowing him, Rose would bet good money it was the other way around.

"Course it is," she groaned before dragging in a deep breath. "Right, c'mon, out with it."

"Get your bags to the front door, the van is makin' its rounds-"

Rose shot up like a gun, now fully awake.

"I thought we were leaving later in the morning?"

"Yeah, well, there was another murder."

"When?"

"Few hours. Two or three, maybe.. Four at the most."

The line went silent and Mickey would've thought Rose had gone back to sleep, if her steady breathing was any indication, until she finally spoke up.

"Usual pick up order?"

"No worries, you're last. Per usual request," there was a hint of a laugh in Mickey's voice, and under different circumstances, Rose may have rolled her eyes and playfully told him to shut up.

"Good, I'll see you and the boys later. Bye, Mickey."

"See ya, Rose."

Shutting her phone off, Rose sighed and rubbed at her eyes before reaching over and switching her bedside lamp on.

"Boys," Rose greeted her team as she settled herself inside the Torchwood issued van.

"Girl," they responded in almost practiced unison.

"You know, one day, you'll greet me as 'lady.' Just you watch."

"Not until you greet us as 'men' again" Jake challenged.

"Boys, you lost that respect when you referred to me as 'woman' during my last time of the month when I emrightfully told you off for joking about a dead bloke," she finalized as she shifted around into a comfortable seating position. "So what's the update on the case?"

Drew cleared his throat before reading from the file Rose failed to notice that he had pulled from the pocket of the seat in front of him. At this point in the group's working relationship, this was their normal routine. One they, despite their jobs, settled into with ease. A few years back, Rose might have thought it almost sickening or disgraceful. Over time, Rose began questioning if her routine with the Doctor had been any better than her routine now. She found that, a little less than often, she told herself that it probably wasn't. But that was then and this, no more than four years after her three with the Doctor, this is now. And now, Rose Tyler, head of her own Torchwood field team, was headed out with said team to Broadchurch for their next assignment.

Friday morning in the tiny town of Broadchurch, there had been a discovered murder. The victim was a thirty-four-year-old man named Jude Wolmer. He had a blow to the head and the crime scene photos looked anything but pretty. "Pretty brutal, maybe," Jake had commented. According to his autopsy, which was completed on Saturday, his body also contained an unknown substance. Well. Unknown to common law enforcement. Which is exactly why Torchwood was added to the case. Sort of.

Down in Broadchurch was a 'sort of,' what he referred to himself as, 'psychic.' Rose Tyler had met psychics and this man, Steve Connelly, was no psychic. But he wasn't wrong, either. However, after the famous Danny Latimer case (that took place around the time Rose and her mother, Jackie, had first arrived, and so Rose had only heard of the case but did not know much about it, other than the basics of the story. She had never seen anything on the telly, and she had never read about it in the papers. But she knew about the case and she knew about Steve.) in the small Dorset town, news of some parts of the investigation that Steve had tried to get himself into, had reached the ears of Torchwood. Looking more into Steve's "unique gift," Torchwood added him to their payroll as a "as needed" consultant. During the time of Jude Wolmer's murder, he felt the need, or more, he was to believe, that Torchwood would be interested and so, Rose Tyler's own forensics expert for her team, Drew Graham, arrived on Sunday to investigate. Monday, Torchwood spoke with the police department of Broadchurch and they came to the agreement that Rose and the rest of her team were to be sent down to work side-by-side with their DI, Alec Hardy and their DS, Ellie Benson (previously Miller, since she had divorced her now imprisoned husband).

Torchwood also agreed to do look ups on the DI and DS to see if they would be likely to accommodate clearance papers for Rose's team to inform them on the possible alien crisis. This look up was common when working with law enforcement, and while officers were occasionally allowed clearance, more times than not, it wasn't handled well at first. Torchwood was required to bring along sedatives just in case. Rose also had her stun gun.

Drew had gone back to London that night to pack and he was to leave with the rest of the team by nine, at the latest, the next morning. But now it's half four on Tuesday morning and Drew was sat in the back of the Torchwood van, informing the rest of his team on what had interrupted all of them from trying to sleep.

Although unaware of the 'why' to the murder of Jude Wolmer and now Alfie Lamb, as well, as of a few hours ago (he was discovered in an empty lot at a far, mostly unoccupied, part of town, and was the reason the Torchwood team was on the road), Drew had discovered traces of alien substances in the body, home, and abandoned boat house Jude was found in. The autopsy said he must have died from the blow to the head, having bled out, late Thursday night. With the results from Drew's lab results, he might debate otherwise.

There's a reason the Leekodones have 'leek' in their name and that reason is because when they are in their natural form, they leak poison. Technically, for them, it's only sweat. But only to them and their few sister planets. Otherwise, their leaking sweat is deadly to all other species, or as far as Torchwood knows. But at least they have the poison in their data systems, otherwise they would have a harder time knowing what they're up against.

"Not like what we're up against isn't hard enough if they're pullin' us outta bed at this hour," Mickey murmured from the driver's seat. "I mean," his voice began to rise,"for all we know, it could be for nothin. I get a call from their DS sayin' there's another murder and they needed us down there to see if the 'unknown substance' is the same and then some growl in the background and the call just ended."

"That would be the DI. Right proper bastard, he is. Sorry she had to call you, I would have answered my phone but it still charging."

"Not a problem."

"I'm surprised Torchwood even gave you the case," Drew says, directing his attention to Rose.

Rose's brows furrow. "Why's that? You do realize I work with the ever so uncharming male gender just about every day, yeah?"

"I'm going to choose to ignore that. But Pete didn't talk to you?"

"No?" She stretches out the word. "Should he have?"

"Dunno. Probably. He didn't say anything when I went to pick up the clearance files."

"So they did get cleared, then?" Jake asks from the front.

"Yeah, but Rose, you really don't know?"

"Know what, Drew?" She can't tell if she sounds like she's groaning or pleading, but it feels like both as her agitation grows.

Drew stays quiet for a few moments as he considers the woman next to him, "You've heard of the Latimer case, right?"

"Yeah, and the DI and DS for this case were DI and DS for that case. It was the DS's husband if I remember correctly."

"Yeah. It was. Do you know what they look like?"

"You're gonna have to be a little more clear, Drew." It's too bloody early to be playing these games and Rose just wants the update to finish so she can try to get a good hour or two of sleep before they reach the hotel, which was reserved to house them at ten, but was called to have rooms waiting right away.

"You know how when you first told me about the Doctor and parallel worlds and how when you first came here, there was a parallel Mickey, Pete, and Jackie?"

"Yes, Drew. I know," she gives an exasperated sigh.

"And then you found other parallels like old friends of yours and Jackie's? Even your friend Jack? And even different types of aliens?"

Rose's face softens at the mention of the parallel of her old friend, but then she stills, her face shifting into an emotionless mask as she fears who or what could have Drew so concerned that he thinks even her own step-father might need to be involved.

Drew stares at Rose for a second, before pulling out another file. He looks down at it, breathing heavily through his nose as if he were unsure. "If Pete kills me for this, it's his fault, not mine. But just know, Rose.. emthis isn't him." With that said, he offers Rose the manilla folder. She takes it, noting the "Hardy, Alec DI" written on the small flap at the top.

Rose opens the folder and stares at the picture held to the small pile of papers that contains everything Rose Tyler and her team might need to know about Alec Hardy. She ignores it because she tells herself she'll listen to the boys review it aloud as they always do. Really, she knows she couldn't bring herself to read it herself for the life or death or her. Right now she doesn't care about the stupid pile of papers. All Rose Tyler cares about right now is that Drew is right. This is not him.

She's seen him with scruff, she's seen him with flat, fluffy hair. She's seen him gruff and snarky, disapproving and challenging, even. Rose Tyler's seen the Doctor with many different looks, but not this one. Never this one. Because this is not the Doctor. This is Alec Hardy, or Alec Hardarse, if the flaring nostrils, hard, dark, but young eyes, and what looks like a forcefully contained snarl are anything to go by. "Not much of a smiler then," she says. It's the only and last thing she says before handing Drew the file to read aloud to the team and shuts her eyes after to will herself to sleep until they get to bloody Broadchurch.


	2. Not the Doctor

"You sure you're gonna be alright, Rose?"

"I can handle this, Jake. He's not the Doctor. Besides, I handled Jack and now we're great friends."

"Yeah, but that's only 'cos this Jack's like that Jack-"

"And this isn't the Doctor. He's got his own life, his own records and everything. And not 'records' like me and you, emRickey. He's not the Doctor and I can accept that, move past it, and work with Alec Hardy."

"He's a real grump," Drew tried to warn her.

"Even better. Further proof that he's not the Doctor. Should make it easier to just see him as the DI and not the Doctor."

"Even with the pacemaker making it seem like he has two hearts?"

"Seriously, Micks? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to push me off the case," it was a good thing that Mickey was driving, otherwise he was sure Rose would be slapping him soon.

"Rose, all I'm sayin' is that I don't want you takin' any left over feelings for the Doctor and takin' it out on the guy for not being him or somethin'," Mickey replied slowly.

Closing her eyes , Rose shifted in her seat to lay back slightly and let her head loll back as she pressed a hand on her stomach. She needed to calm herself, she knew that. But goddamn it, Mickey might be right.

"Then I trust each of you to know when and if I need to be pulled out and to do so. Keep a sedative on hand if it makes you feel better, but I'm not gonna just run away. I've already accepted and held closure with most everything. For all I know, this could be good for me. And if not, I'll try not to hold the rest of you back from pulling me out. But I'm no coward and I'm not backing out now. This is my job, my life. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," the boys agreed uneasily but acceptingly.

"Good," Rose opened her eyes and turned to look out the window. "How much longer?"

"About ten to fifteen minutes or so until we get to the hotel," Jake read from the GPS. "Sleep well?"

"Until I was awaken with intrusive questions, yeah. Cup of coffee and maybe a bloody pill or two and I should be fine."

"What size cup are you thinking?" Drew asks.

"Mmm.. Medium, I think?"

"One pill."

"Right, thanks," Rose responds, shuffling through her purse to find her anxiety meds. When Jake offers her a bottle of water, she takes it with a quiet 'thanks' and swallows the small, round pill.

"'Sides, you might want to take one later if he's as much of a git as Drew says," Mickey says.

"Trust me, he is. But the DS is very friendly, I'm sure if anything, the two of you will get along best."

"Yeah, except you're forgetting that as team leader, I usually have to work with the DI when sharing a case."

"As long as the two of you have everything to keep your health statures in check at all times, you should be fine," Drew keeps his tone serious but Rose can practically feel his concern, and it's not just for her.

The ride from London to Dorset took over two and a half hours, leading the Torchwood team to arrive at the Traders hotel in Broadchurch some time after six. Pulling into the parking lot, the team decided on a plan. They were to get their room keys, bring their luggage to their designated rooms, do any freshening up and use of the loo needed, then meet back in the lobby, where Drew would (preferably) call the DS (she and the DI had returned to their respective homes after the call had been made to Torchwood and she should be arriving to the station within the hour, and she didn't know when the DI would arrive but she said she hoped she'd have the chance to meet them first before the DI scares them off).

Within less than half an hour, the group were stood in the lobby with the hotel owner/manager, Becca Fisher, asking for an autograph and picture with the famous Vitex Heiress, Rose Tyler. Rose was used to the publicity, even on missions, and with the boys saying that they had time, she quickly agreed. After asking, Becca informed them of a coffeeshop down the road. Thanking her, the team left for the coffeeshop where they ordered coffees and bagels. They ate quickly and downed their coffees before driving down to the police station, where they were lead to an empty conference room with a large wood table and multiple chairs, being told that the room was to be used for the investigation and to get comfy. Hesitating for a few moments, they looked to each other wordlessly before each taking a seat and together, they sat in silence for what felt like hours, but they knew were only minutes.

"You sure, Rose?" Jake quietly but determinedly breaks the silence eventually.

"Yeah," she nods. "But like I said, I'm trusting all of you," she looks around the room, making eye contact with each of her team members, "to pull me out if, and only if, need be."

"Yes, girl," the boys reply in unison and Rose smiles.

A moment later, the door to the room opens and in walks a curly haired woman. The Torchwood team stands.

"Drew," she nods and smiles to the man.

"Ellie," he repeats her notion. "This is the rest of the team.. Mickey Smith, our techy, Jake Simmonds, our weaponry specialist and tech assistant, and our team leader and foreign communications expert, Rose Tyler." Each team member smiles and nods in introduction and Rose also offers a small wave.

"Oh my god," Ellie gasps, pointing to Rose. "You're Rose Tyler! Vitex heiress, Rose Tyler!"

"Yes, that's right," Rose continues to smile. "And I'd assume you're DS Ellie Benson, yes?"

"Yeah," Ellie shakes her head to snap herself out of her momentary shock and moves forward to shake hands with the Torchwood team. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too, ma'am," Jake says.

"Please, you can call me Ellie."

"With pleasure, emEllie," Mickey smiles and Ellie laughs.

"Well, the DI should be along soon. I'm sure Drew's told you about him by now."

"Guessin' he prefers Hardy to Alec," Mickey asks with the raise of an eyebrow.

"Mmm, that's him. But I call him Alec, anyways. And he's not too happy-"

"I've only met the man once and I get the feeling he's never happy," Drew interrupts, but Ellie laughs.

"Not really, no. But the whole working together with a team.."

"I'm guessing he doesn't play well with others?" Rose jokes.

"No. I don't," comes a rough voice from behind Ellie.

"Stop it, Alec. They're here to help-" Ellie starts to defend the Torchwood team, moving over to let Alec into the room.

The moment Rose sets her eyes on him, she clenches her jaw shut tightly and stuffs her fists into her pockets. From behind her, Mickey squeezes her elbow in question and reassurance. Rose turns her head slightly to the side and nods. He lets go and Rose directs her attention back to the gruff man. He looks like the picture in his file, scruffy hair and face, angry expression, and she's sure those lines around his eyes aren't from laughter but instead from him squinting when he's really angry. He's standing with his feet shoulder length apart and his hands on his hips, under his jacket but over his button-up. His suit isn't like the Doctor's, he doesn't show any color. Instead, he's all grey suit, grey tie, white button-up, and black business shoes. He is not the Doctor but if Rose ever grows to hate this man, it won't be because of that. She doesn't care about that. What she really cares about is the fact that this man looks like he's about to not only disrespect her and her team, but maybe even his own DS. This isn't the Doctor and Rose doesn't care because already, she dislikes this man. She'll make him earn her respect, if he's capable of respecting anyone at all, that is.

"No, they're here to take over my investigation."

"We're above government. Technically, if we wanted, we could make this investigation ours," Rose says calmly. She has her practiced emotionless mask in place but she keeps her fists shoved deep into the pockets of her trousers. "So I suggestion you give us a chance and listen to what we have to say or you're done here. Am I understood?"

Alec's angry expression holds firm but his eyebrows raise above his flat hair, nearly disappearing, "Listen, lady-"

" _I said_.. Alec," the way his name rolled off her tongue sounded venomous and led Alec to lower his eyebrows, match her emotionless mask, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Am. I. Understood?"

She ignores the slight snickers and gasps of her team members at Hardy's referring to her as 'lady' and raises one eyebrow in challenge to the man. He clenches his jaw before giving a loud sniff and growling quietly. Rose finally takes her fists out of her pockets and crossed her arms, mimicking Alec's pose, eyebrow still raised. Alec stares her down for a few seconds before sniffing once more and tersely nodding once.

"Good," Rose extends one of her arms and evens out her eyebrows. "Rose Tyler, Torchwood team leader and foreign communications expert."

Alec looks down at Rose's hand, considering it for a moment before taking it in one of his own and giving it a firm shake before letting his arms cross again, "Alec Hardy, DI."

Rose nods.

"Now. We're not trying to overtake your investigation. It's your case, you got to it first and it's in your district. However, there are aspects of your case that you are neither trained nor qualified to handle, but Torchwood is. If you're willing to emcooperate," she expands the word, trying to drag her point across, causing Hardy to raise an eyebrow for a moment. "We would be working hand-in-hand as emequals but mostly me handling my team, you and Ellie doing your normal routine, but you and I will have to have mutual communication on updates and the status of the case. It's your investigation, we're here to help and handle foreign threat."

"And what foreign threat would that be?" Alec asks and for the first time, Rose hears the gruff nature of his strong Scottish accent. Memories of Scotland and Queen Victoria pass through her mind and she takes a deep breath to clear her head.

"You may want to sit down. You as well, Ellie," she says, turning to Ellie then she turns to her team. "Boys."

"Yes, girl," her team replies and Rose fights the urge to roll her eyes at them trying to hide their smiles and laughs.

Once everyone is seated, Rose turns to Drew.

"Right- actually, no. We didn't finish introductions. You've already met me, that's Mickey Smith, our technology expert, and Jake Simmonds, our weaponry expert and tech assistant." Alec leans back in his seat, crosses his arms, and nods.

'I must have really pissed him off,' Rose thinks to herself. She doesn't know if she feels proud and guilty but she's sure unless she and her team don't approach the rest of the day carefully, he's going to try to beat Rose's arse and end up with his face in the tile floor within seconds. 'Maybe I'm just letting my imagination run. But is it too late for me to run? No, stop.' She argues with herself, and shakes herself to stop.

Drew rests two closed up yellow packets in front of the DI and DS and begins to explain before they open them.

"Do you remember the Cybermen?" He asks.

They do.

"Rose, Mickey, and Jake were there. They stopped most of them."

The three are used to the shocked, scared, or attempted closed off expressions they always get. This is no different. Still, Rose refuses to look at either of them and keeps her eyes on Drew.

"And we've dealt with worst. Rose especially."

"What does this have to do with these folders?" Alec asks, impatiently.

Drew stares at the man for a second before responding, "Do you believe in aliens?"

Alec's eyebrows shoot up as he considers the man in front of him, then he lowers his brows and squints at the man, probably trying to decipher whether or not he's trying to have him on. Drew's calm expression and demeanor stay in place and Alec leans back, softening out his futures, and pulls out a pair of glasses from the breast pocket of his jacket. Rose can't help but to notice. They aren't like the Doctor's. Yes, the lenses are square like his, but there's metal framing and arms rather than plastic. It makes Alec look his age. This man is definitely not the Doctor.

Drew nods to the folders and after a moment's hesitation, Alec opens his. Ellie follows his lead.

The room is silent, the minutes dragging on, as Alec and Ellie read over their clearance files.

Rose and her team have experienced many different reactions to clearance files. Some people just accept the information given, some panic (that's when sedatives come in very handy), some are skeptical and ask questions. There's a variety of different reactions, all of which, they are used to now. Sometimes, they have to sedate people to calm them and get them to accept the information, and sometimes they have to retcon them, making them forget, in which Torchwood takes the entire case into their own hands. Torchwood teams usually have to work on their own and rarely have to team with law enforcement, but it still happens. However they react, Rose is prepared for anything.

Once finished, they put the papers back in the folders. Ellie blinks multiple times while Alec takes in a deep breath before making eye contact with Rose.

"And you've especially dealt with worse?" He sounds partially curious, partially in disbelief.

"Much," she answers simply.

"Like what?" Ellie seems almost too afraid to ask.

Every time she's asked this, her mind always goes first to that impossible planet with the beast in the pit. She never tells that story.

"I've seen the end of the Earth. I've had my face removed and placed inside a telly. I've been to a planet with air that's poisonous to off worlders and ran low on my oxygen tank. I've-"

"You've been to other planets?" Ellie asks. "You're not trying to have us on, are you?" She's practically pleading.

"Different planets, different times."

"Different times?" Alec's arms are crossed again and he looks even less believing than Ellie.

She's told people with clearance files about the Doctor. She often has. Somehow, sometimes, it helps them to believe.

"I spent three years traveling in time and space with an alien who looked human. First time we met, he saved my life, next day I saved his, and as a thank you, he offered me all of space. And I said no."

"You just said you spent three years with this emalien," Rose can't tell if Alec said the word distastefully or possibly angrily, but she has his attention and she thinks she may be close to convincing him.

"He left," slowly she smiled as she stares off to the side of Alec's head, remembering that one night all those years ago. "Literally left. His spaceship disappeared and came back a couple seconds later. That's when he told me it could travel in time. He offered me all of time and space and I ran away away with him.. We ran for so long.."

"What happened?" Ellie asked, snapping Rose out of her musings.

Her smile dropped, as did her eyes. She stared at the table in front of her, her lips twitching and she cleared her throat, "I lost him."

"What does that mean?" Alec doesn't sound angry, but his voice is still rough. Rose thinks that might be his attempt at trying a soft tone and that's the best he can do for her. She accepts it and yet brushes the thought aside at the same time.

"It means," she draws in a shaky breath as she looks up from the table, not making eye contact with anyone. She's done this speech before, and her own reactions are always the same. Even though she tells herself she's accepted it all, that doesn't mean it still doesn't eat at her every goddamn day. "It means that we were fighting the Cybermen and these other robot looking creatures, called the Daleks, and even though we stopped them, we won the battle, we still lost. We got separated. We found each other again, one day. But we didn't even have five minutes before he was gone.. Last thing he ever said to me was my name."

There was silence in the room for several seconds as the DI and DS let the information sink in. Rose still refused to make eye contact, but Mickey squeezed her elbow once in reassurance.

"You were in love with an alien?" Ellie eventually breaks the silence.

Rose knits her brows together, "I tell you that aliens exist and that I've travelled in time and space and you want to know if I was in love with an alien?"

"Well, were you?"

"Yes."

Out of every reaction she's ever gotten, and out of every question, she has never faced this. As much as she doesn't want to admit it, Rose is slightly impressed.

"An alien, really? Wouldn't he look all.."

Mickey bursts out laughing and even Jake and Drew try to hide their smirks. Rose only blinks.

"He looked human, completely human-"

"All of him?"

Mickey can't help it and he starts tearing up a little. It's too much for Jake and even he laughs.

"Yes," Rose even laughs a little, truly seeing how ridiculous the situation, conversation, and Ellie and Alec's faces are.

"I don't understand what's so funny," Alec scoffs out at the same time as Ellie asks, "What did he look like?"

Rose immediately sobers up and she waits until the boys settle down before she says anything.

"He was gorgeous. Truly gorgeous. And for the longest time, I believed I didn't deserve that kind of beauty. He said the same about me," Rose's voice was quiet but even and it caused even the DI's rough demeanor to soften.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Alec quietly offers after a moment. Rose stares at him and has to force herself to nod because she's not sure if she can do anything else, staring at this man that looks like her Doctor but isn't. This isn't her Doctor. This is some gruff, angry man. But maybe she doesn't dislike him as much as she thought only minutes ago. Still, she knows she needs to proceed with caution.

When Drew finally speaks up, she is eternally grateful.

"So do you accept what you've read as true?"

They do.

"Do you accept to work as equal partners on this case?"

They do.

"Good," he takes the two yellow clearance folders from them and hand them a single manilla folder. "This is what we're up against."


	3. A Call

It didn't take long for the Torchwood team to explain their stance on, what was being referred to as the "Wolmer Case" to the DI and DS. The "unknown substance" found in Jude Wolmer's body was the poisonous sweat of a Leekodone, a creature from the planet Arkdo II. The poison is known to Torchwood as "Leeke" (pronounces lee-eek).

"I know what you're thinking," Jake said. "Not too clever of a name, but it's the best we've got."

Being a liquid sweat, one might think that Leeke could be consumed as a drink rather than used as a drug. Honestly, it could be used as both, but it would burn a human's mouth down to raw, stinging pink flesh and it's more efficient as a drug, anyways. It's as addictive as nicotine but causes the user to react as if they were on acid. Though Leeke is poisonous, if treated in small, concentrated doses, it could be used as a drug. But the amount has to be small, emitted through a needle, similarly in the way of heroin, which is another reason why it's preferred usage is as a drug opposed to a liquid drink. Although, it wasn't unheard of to use Leeke to spike alcohol.

Upon observing Wolmer's body and the Leeke contained within it, Drew found that Jude had either been given or self administered multiple shots of Leeke. Though the blow to his head caused an epic amount of blood loss, depending on when the drug was admitted, Drew assumed the most likely cause of death was the Leeke, with a blow to the head to make sure "the job was done." This sort of method was generally not unheard of.

"So if the case is all alien, I don't see how there's much we can do for the investigation?" Ellie asks, brows furred and lips pressed into a firm line.

"We don't know yet if this case is entirely alien," Rose supplied simply, intertwining on the table in front of her as she leans forwards. "There have been several alien based drug rings throughout, well, the world. We've dealt with plenty in England, especially London. Sometimes the rings involve all aliens, other times they involve aliens and humans, and sometimes they involve all humans supplying alien based drugs. The bodies you've found could be part of the drug ring, or they could be completely innocent, and their reasons for being killed could be non-alien related, but their killer or killers, for whatever reason, used an alien drug to, er, 'get the job done.'"

"What happens if the case turns out to be entirely alien? Do you just take it?" With his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, Rose can tell he's either trying to be threatening or defensive, but she's not going to let him belittle her.

"We'll just have to wait and see," she straightens her posture, hands still on the table, and tilts her head slightly to the side; an invitation to try and argue.

He declines, settling to even out his eyebrows and clenching his jaw. Rose can't help but notice the dimple that forms in his cheek, hidden slightly by his facial hair.

This is not the Doctor and she needs a distraction.

As if on cue, her mobile rings.

Pete Tyler, creator of Vitex and one of the multiple heads of Torchwood, has two phones. One is entirely Torchwood based, only used for business. When he calls Rose on this phone, she refers to him as "Pete." Pete's second phone is for family, friends, and emergencies only. Despite not actually being father and daughter, they have learned to accept one another as such. When Pete answers this phone, she refers to him as "Dad."

Looking up from the caller ID, Rose gives a sympathetic smile as she claims that it's an important call that she has to take and that she'll be back in a few minutes. She looks pointedly at her team and they nod in turn. They know the drill. If she's not back in five and a half minutes, one of them is to go after her. Having peaked at the caller ID, Mickey silently communicates to Jake and Drew that he'll get her. They don't ask, nor do they plan to. They can already guess, and if the looks from Rose and Mickey were to give any indication, they'd take their assumptions as correct.

Once she leaves the room, closing the door behind her, everyone sits in silence for a solid minute or two, Ellie and Alec wondering what just happened, and the boys silently communicating their plans.

Ellie and Alec watch the exchange with furrowed brows. They look to each other to see if the other has any idea. Ellie pulls a face and shrugs. Alec sniffs and looks away.

Ellie turns to Mickey. She looks concerned. Alec looks between a mix of confused and offended, until he blinks, sniffs, and relaxes his face back into an mask of devoid emotion.

"Is she alright?" Ellie asks Mickey. The looks on her face is more than concerned, it's also of compassion, both that of a mother. She has two kids, he remembers.

"Rose? Oh, she's always alright, least that's what she always says. Just a family call, nothin to worry bout."

"Family problems?" The boys are used to this tone. The tone that all the policemen they've worked with use. The tone that tries to sound neutral at first, but quickly grows intrusive, investigative, as if there's reason to suspect everyone for everything. The only difference between those policemen and Alec is that he looks like the Doctor and the boys will do anything to protect Rose from both men.

"Nah, mate. Her dad's the creator of Vitex. You know how those big companies are. Her dad's probably telling her about another fundraiser or party or somethin."

With a sweet smile gracing his lips and a far off look in his eyes, Drew quietly comments, "Met my fiancé at one of those parties."

"Congratulations," Ellie offers with a small smile.

Drew smiles back at her, "Thanks."

"Vitex?" Alec asks, eyes squinting slightly and brows furrowed.

"Yeah," Jake nods. "That's Rose Tyler, Vitex heiress that you're accusing of have family problems."

"Well how was I to know?" It looked as if he was going to roll his eyes, but he didn't. Jake wondered if he thought himself too above such a notion.

"You're a cop," Mickey points a finger in his direction.

"Yes. I am. And unlike most," he turns to Ellie. "I don't spent my free time dilly dallying over gossip drag."

"Oi!" Ellie protests. "Sorry that emunlike you, I use my free time to try and relax, maybe even have a little fun. Mister, 'I'm just going to sit around and sulk about my stupid two hearts.'"

Mickey tries to compose himself to appear nonchalant. He's trying, he's really, really trying.

"Now look what you've done, you've made them uncomfortable," Ellie accuses Alec. She turns to the boys, one at a time. "I apologize for him."

"I'm gonna go get Rose," Mickey blurts out before anyone can say anything further.

"Why?" Alec asks, his irritation clear.

"Strict policy, gotta check on each other if a call goes longer than a certain time."

"Who's policy is that?" Alec asks, his arms crossed again.

"Five and a half," Mickey mumbles as he heads for the door.

"What?"

"Five and a half minutes," Jake says, looking down at his watch. "That's our rule."

"Why?"

"Because Rose is the leader and what she says, goes."

"Five and a half minutes, that's very specific."

"Is it?" Mickey asks as he leaves the room.

Narrowing his eyes, Alec lowers his chin slightly to stare down Jake. He sniffs.

"Hardy," Ellie sighs.

"What, Benson?" He spits out, turning his attention to Ellie.

"I think when they get back, we should all go down to the morgue. Check out that new body," Drew calmly offers.

"I don't know if they've done the autopsy yet," Ellie says.

"You found the body, what? Five hours ago?"

"Five and a half," Alec grumbles.

"You gotta work on your jokes, mate," Jake shakes his head.

Alec responds by rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair. Turns out Jake was wrong, Alec doesn't think himself too above an eye roll. Jake's not sure how to feel about that, so he just lets the thought pass.

They spent the time waiting for Rose and Mickey in silence.

Leaving the room, Rose takes a deep breath to ease her tension and moves a few feet down the deserted hallway.

"Hey, dad, can you hold on a sec? Ta."

She walks a safe distance away from the door, making sure to be out of earshot if things get too loud or private on either side of the door.

"Hi, dad."

 _"Hello, sweetheart. How are you?"_

"Oh, you know. Busy, investigating a new case. The usual. How are you and mum? Tony?"

 _"They're good, Rose. I, on the other hand, am worried about you."_

"Me? And why's that?" Rose tries to sound innocent and flinches at her own voice.

 _"Your new case is in Broadchurch, isn't it?"_

"Yeah. And you've got nothing to worry about, dad. I know what you're on about and I'm fine, I've accepted that. And we're getting along just fine. Well, as fine as he'll get along with us. Bit of a git, this one."

 _"Rose-"_

"I know. Dad, I know. And I've already talked it out with the boys. They've agreed to pull me out if needed, and I've even agreed to let them sedate me if, so help me god, something goes a little too wrong."

 _"It's concerning, sweetheart, if you think they're going to need to sedate you."_

"I only said that to make emthem feel better, dad. Honestly. I can handle myself, you know I can."

Rose could hear a deep sigh from the other end of the line and she closed her eyes, waiting her her dad to respond.

 _"I know, sweetheart. I know. I suppose I just feel guilty for not looking more into the case. I could have at least given you warning." There was as long pause before Pete spoke again. em"How far into the case are you?"_

"We've met the DI and DS, they read their clearance files, I talked a little about the usual, they've accepted to work together, and we've just about finished telling them about our side of the case and what Drew found in his lab reports. I'm sure we'll be going to the morgue soon, and eventually we're going to try to meet Steve Connelly."

 _"Good, that's good. And they handled the clearance files well?"_

"Well enough.. Hey, wait, how did you know about the whole.. Reason why you called?"

 _"The boys called from the hotel."_

Rose growled quietly, "Of course they did." Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose before scrubbing her hand down her face, neck, chest, stomach, and then curving towards her side. "I can hold my own, you know," she said, quietly.

 _"I know. And I trust you. I just had to call to make sure, Rose."_

"Thanks, dad."

 _"Any time, sweetheart."_

The line went silent for a few seconds.

 _"You should probably get back to your team._

Rose closed her eyes and sighed again.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right."

 _"Alri-"_

"Wait! I sort of ran out of the room. They're probably going to want to hear an excuse or something."

 _"Just tell them I called about that Vitex fundraiser dinner party in three weeks. The boys and their plus ones are, as always, on the list. And there's still an open spot for a plus one for you."_

This time when Rose groaned, she exaggerated it, as this was the normal routine between the two. She never brought a plus one and Pete knew that. But he'd always offer, she'd always melodramatically react, and they'd both smile and laugh.

Despite her mother's failed attempts, Rose refuses to date. She always makes excuses.

"Busy job."

"Busy life."

"Too risky with my line of work."

"But the publicity, the paparazzi.."

The truth? Rose Tyler can't move on from the Doctor.

"And with good reason," she would usually respond.

She could never tell who she was really trying to convince; herself or others.

 _"Your mother wants you to wear that, um.. light.. pink.. silky.. dress.. thing? Any idea what she's talking about?"_

"Yeah."

No.

 _"Good, good. Because I have no idea."_

Her, either.

 _"Call me later when you get some free time. Let me know how things are going, okay?"_

"Yeah, dad. Love you."

 _"Love you, too. Give my best to the boys."_

"Will do."

Rose ended the call and leaned her back against the wall, closing her eyes, and trying to rub the uneasiness from her stomach. She stood there, inhaling and exhaling even, calculated breaths. Eventually, she opened her eyes and turned to walk back to the room. At that same moment, Mickey walked out into the hall.

Right. Protocol.

"Five and a half?" She asked.

"No idea," Mickey shook his head. "Got a bit bored in there, y'know?"

Rose laughed once, "Yeah, I bet. By the way, when I find out which one of you made that call to my dad, I'll bloody well have you," she pointed her index finger close to Mickey's nose, causing him to go cross eyed for a moment.

"We're worried, Rose."

"I know, Micks. But I can't keep letting this run my life."

"Listen, I understand telling people about the Doctor during clearances. I mean, after all the things you've told me about, its put my mind at ease quite a lot-"

"Then just trust me," she nearly begs.

Mickey searched Rose's face for a moment before exhaling slowly through his nose and nodding.

"Fine. But if we see even the smallest reason to take you out-"

"Then I give you and the boys full permission."

"Sorry about that, was just my dad, boys he wants me to remind you about the dinner function in three weeks," absentmindedly waving a hand, Rose reclaims her seat and turns to Ellie. "I trust my boys were on their best behavior?"

Ellie laughs, "Yes, but mine was not."

Alec growls as he leans back in his seat, "I'm not your 'boy,' Benson."

Rolling her eyes, Ellie turns to Rose.

"We were thinking about going to the morgue."

"Sounds good to me."

"Great, let's go," Ellie smiled, placing her hands on the table to help push herself up.

Rose and her team followed suit and looked at Alec expectantly.

"What, emnow?"

"Unless you'd like to interrogate them a little more, yes," Ellie said, placing her hands on her hips and pursing her lips.

Alec gave an exasperated sigh before standing.

"Well?" He asked, eyebrows raised and mouth hanging slightly open a she nodded towards the nod. "Ladies first."

Mickey, Jake, and Drew try to press their lips into firm lines to stop them from smirking at Rose being called a lady once more.

"Yeah," Jake chined in. "Girls first."

Ellie gave Rose a confused look, to which Rose shrugs, and she walks out the door. As Rose started to follow her, she turned her head back to glare at the boys over her shoulder.

The four men shortly followed after.

"What the hell was that about?" Alec grumbled from the back of the group.

The three younger gentlemen shared a brief look, smirks lighting their faces.

"You keep calling her lady," Drew said casually.

"Do I?" Alec sniffed.

"Yeah, you should keep doing it," Drew continues.

"And why's that?"

The smirks on the boys' faces grew even wider. Alec raised an eyebrow but they don't give him any further explanation. He wasn't sure if he wanted to remove the word from his vocabulary or use it until it's worn down to the bone.

"Thats it? You're just going to smile at each other like a bunch of idiots and not tell me?"

" _We'll just have to wait and see_ ," thoughts of Rose's cocky voice and demeanor from earlier return to his mind for a moment.

He had only know the lady- bloody fuck- woman, for a few hours and already she had crawled under his skin. He wanted to peel her itching sense of existence off like a sunburn.

"How do you do that?" Leaning in close, Ellie whispered to Rose.

"Do what?"

"Stand up to Alec like that? Took my forever to even get him to call me 'Ellie' and he only does it like once every other week or month."

Her mouth suddenly dry, Rose licked her lips.

"Oh, well.. I learned at a pretty young age that sometimes you need to stand up for yourself. It wasn't until I started traveling that I got the courage to. Now I don't let anyone make me feel less than I am. They can see me as they want, but all that matters is how I see myself.. Besides, I work with a whole team of boys. Can't let them get all the credit for protecting me. Their egos get bigger than their heads if I'm not around to put them in their place," Rose grinned.

Ellie blinked at Rose, "And you're how old?"

"Twenty-six or so? Not entirely sure, to be honest. The thought gets a bit lost when you.. erm.. travel."

"Well, I'm certainly impressed."

Rose gave the woman a soft smile, which she easily returned. "Thank you."


	4. Fan-bloody-fucking-tastic

Jude Wolmer died at the age of thirty-four. A loving husband and father of two sons, Jude was known as a kind man with a comforting smile. By day, he played the role of a retailer, selling houses throughout Dorset, while he played the role of beloved family man by night. He made good money, as did his wife, a pediatrician. They loved one another, and their children, very much and were your typical, happy family.

Alfie Lamb died at the age of twenty-eight. He worked for an advertisement firm and if his position was anything to go by, he was fairly good at it. He was a good man, a son, a brother, a lover. His parents were kind and loving, both accountants. Alfie had two sisters. They were both younger than him and barely even out of university.

As far as anyone could tell, these two men had only one thing in common; they were both murdered the same way. Six needles worth of Leeke in the right arm and a bashing in of the skull, "just to make sure."

As far as anyone can see, there's no motive behind their deaths. That only makes the job for Torchwood, Hardy, and Benson even harder.

Great.

Jude's affairs had be taken care of; his family notified, his family, friends, and coworkers interrogated, the whole shebang and regular protocol. They found nothing out of the ordinary. However, only having found Alfie's body not even twelve hours ago, there was new work to be done.

The group had reached the morgue, just as the report on Lamb's autopsy had been organized into a file.

Drew immediately set forth running the same tests and scans that he had on Wolmer's body. With Mickey and Jake to help, the process went by quicker but it still took a great deal of time.

The results matched the ones Drew concluded from Wolmer.

After some discussion, they all came to an agreement on what needed to happen, but not how any of it was going to happen. Someone needed to speak with the Lamb family, someone needed to do the routine interrogation, someone needed to find out who, other than the family, should or could be interrogated, and someone needed to examine Alfie's household, as well as the empty lot where his body was found for any alien activity, traces, or evidence.

"Right, so that's about three sets of jobs and there's six of us, so why don't we partner up?" Ellie suggested.

"Benson," Hardy sighed, crossing his arms.

"Well, we are working a partnership," Mickey challenged him.

"We could take the forensics at the house and lot," Drew pointed between himself and Mickey. He was usually the better of the remaining three in the Torchwood group to work with, forensic wise, and the Torchwood team knew it.

"I'll talk to the family with someone," Ellie offered. "Alec's not really a town favorite and he's better at interrogating than I am, but he can get rude."

Alec began to growl, but before he could speak, Jake chimed in.

"Rose and Hardy it is, then. As good as I am at playing good-cop-bad-cop with someone, Rose can play both angles all on her own and at the same time. I'm sure with your jokes, she'll be even better."

Before Alec could question him, retaliate, or even get out a grunt, Jake pressed on.

"Mickey, Drew, you can take the van if Ellie doesn't mind driving her car."

"No, not at all," Ellie smiled. Jake smiled back.

Other than ending an investigation and going home, this was usually Rose's favorite part of any partnered investigation. The sinking feeling she rubs from her stomach tells her that this part of the investigation isn't going to go anything like it normally did. The part where personal affairs are done being discussed and the real problems begin and she gets to close herself off and work on the case. Alright, so maybe it's not so healthy, but there's a method to the madness. At least that's what she tells herself. But the quicker she can shut herself away and no longer has to discuss the Doctor (only with herself), the quicker she can solve the case and get back to own life in her own bed in her own house, where she's free to do and think and cry and break down as she pleases. Not that she did that often, mind. Though at first, she used to rather frequently, over time she grew used to the work routine and was able to settle in with ease. But this is different. This has the face and body and a similar voice of the man she once and will always love, but it's not him. This is not the Doctor. This is grumpy Detective Inspector Alec Hardy. And Rose is stuck with him for the rest of the day.

Fan-bloody-fucking-tastic.

Throughout his career, Alec had worked with a wide variety of coworkers at a time, but this is something completely different. He had never worked side-by-side with a whole other team. Not to mention the fact that they may be up against aliens. That's right. Real, live, bloody fucking existing aliens. That's a right fucking shock to discover, even after the Cybermen. Thank the god that doesn't exist that he has this stupid damn pacemaker, otherwise he might have had another bleedin' fuckin' heart attack. Wouldn't that just be great? He's had the bastard set for, what? Two years? Two and a half? Three? Well, he's been back on the force for two years now, right? Two? So that has got to mean he's had the blasted pacemaker for about two and a half, and while the scar isn't new, it's not pretty, either. He hates that stupid risen pink line of flesh. He hates that he's so old and so tired. He hates that he's stuck with this lady- for fuck's sake. This- this.. This bottle blonde and health drink heiress. He doesn't hate her. He's a man full of hate but he doesn't outright hate anyone. Not even the pretty boy his ex-wife cheating on him with and is currently married to, and not even his bitch of an ex-wife, either. If there's anyone he hates, it's himself and Rose Tyler makes him hate himself a little more. Alec Hardy has been called names to his face, he's been out right told off by most of goddamn Broadchurch (even the Reverend, for crying out loud!) but never had anyone, especially not a woman, had the nerve or courage to not try, but successfully, and seemingly effortlessly, put him in his place. And doing so with the first thing she says to him upon first meeting him? This lady, she… Well. She is one hell of a lady (a title for her he can't seem to stop using, much to his displeasure) and it may just drive him mad. And Alec is stuck with her for the rest of the day.

Fan-bloody-fucking-tastic.

Before you can interrogate someone, you need to know who's worth interrogating. So for the time being, Rose and Alec were stuck on research duty, much to their dislike.

They're stuck together for the research and the interrogations to come, which means one thing and one thing only. They'll be spending more private time together.

They had no suspects. They had no leads, although they sat back quietly and investigated their own ideas in silence.

They'll have to talk, eventually.

They're working together on a case. The same case. Currently, the same position of the case.

Rose couldn't tell if the boys purposely left her alone with the DI or not. Maybe they were hoping she'd recoil and take herself off the case. Maybe they were giving her the chance to prove herself. Or maybe with enough will power, she can find a way to knock herself unconscious without even having to get up.

Only having his desk computer at his ready and not wanting to share Rose's laptop, Alec offered her and her laptop a seat on the couch in his office. Door shut and blinds half closed, they didn't speak a word to one another other than to decide who would be doing what. The quiet only made the rushing blood in Rose's ears sound louder. She needed another distraction.

"What are you doing?" Alec sighed.

Rose looked up from her screen, one earbud placed in one ear, the other being twirled between her thumb and index finger.

"Problem?" She asks, and as she looks over the glasses Alec's placed on his nose once more, she thinks there may be many.

'Loads,' he thinks but doesn't say anything, just grunting instead as he looks back to his computer.

They had been doing this for how long now? Too long, in probably both of their opinions. This case could take days to weeks to who knows how long, and Rose should try to get along with the DI, at least be able to look at him for more than a few seconds, maybe even hold eye contact. But she can't.

At one point, Alec sighs, removes his glasses, and leans back, running a hand down his face then through his hair.

"The list of coworkers is done, but I'll need to see his work records to know if there's any continuous or suspicious clientele we should speak with," he forces himself to look at her as he speaks.

"I have the family list and I've texted Jake, told him to ask if he's had a significant other we could talk to," she forces herself to look at him as she speaks.

"And?"

"Macey Maddox, girlfriend of six years. Jake says there was talk of a possible proposal," Alec thinks Rose says it regretfully, maybe even knowingly. He showed her kindness once today, already. He doesn't fancy doing so again so soon, and settles for a grunt in affirmation that he's heard her.

They decide to look into Alfie's work history and any personal or general records they can find. They'll give it until tomorrow to sort things out before they interrogate anyone.

"How do you think Rose is holding up?" Drew asks Mickey as he puts the keys into the ignition of the Torchwood van.

"Dunno. Jake said she texted him but it was about the case."

"At least they're getting some work done."

Mickey gave a single laugh, "Yeah, let's hope."

Rose and Alec had been in Alec's office for so long that not only had they lost track of time, but Rose was fairly sure that nearly lost track of what they were doing, as well. Their lists were finished, their researches coming to dead ends, and the time dragging on was slowly driving Rose mad. She figures she must have read Lamb's personal file at least eight times now and it was nine time too many.

"How'd the interrogations for Wolmer go?" Rose eventually asks.

"Why? What do you mean, 'go?' Didn't we already tell you everything, what, not even a few hours ago?"

"Blimey, should've known you'd be an insistent one," Rose grumbled.

Alec groaned before taking his glasses off once more. Leaning forward, he outstretched his arms along the desk in front of him, and tried not to ball his hands into fists, settling for flattening his palms against the surface, instead. Rose bit her cheek as she tried to choke down the growl fighting to escape her throat. Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she tilted her head to the side and kept her face carefully neutral. Usually, when the Doctor made the same gestures displayed currently by Alec, he would struggle to keep his rage as quiet and controlled as he could when he spoke to someone. But this man isn't the Doctor and for all Rose knew, he could be preparing to flip his desk over or he could respond the same way the Doctor would. Rose couldn't decide which possibility was scarier.

"How do you think Hardy's treating Rose?" Jake decided to muse as he settled himself in Ellie's car.

"Well, I mean, it's not like he's that bad. He's just.." she waved a hand around absentmindedly as she started the car.

"A grumpy old man?" Jake supplied.

Ellie laughed, "Oh, you have no idea. He's a challenge, but from what I've seen, she seems like the type to like a challenge."

"Never backs down, actually," Jake smiles.

Ellie nods, "Which- well it isn't weird. It's just, I've read about her. Rose Tyler; mysterious Vitex heiress. She's not really what I expected. Then again, I never expected that I'd ever meet her, so I suppose I wasn't sure what to expect. But whatever I could have expected, I'm sure she would have exceeded it."

Taking a moment to let Ellie's words settle in, Jake nodded a few times to himself as he thought. There were many opinions about Rose Tyler, most being easily voiced to the kind, loving side of Rose that makes her the good person she always makes sure she is. The strong, independent but reliable characteristics that make her a great team leader. Rose Tyler is, in fact, such a great team leader, that there have been rumors that her boys, on more occasions than one, have turned down promotions to become leaders of their own teams. Any positive opinions, the boys are always happy to agree. Any negative opinions, the boys are always more than happy to disagree, though those opinions were fe. But sometimes they heard opinions like Ellie's; the uncertain opinions that still wager in her favor. These opinions tend to become more positive as time quickly goes on.

A few seconds and a near skip of a heartbeat later, Alec breaks the silence.

"It went like I said, nothing suspicious, nothing out of the ordinary. At least not that we could tell. Listen to the tapes, if you must-"

"Already did," Rose held up the now tied up earphones she had plugged into her laptop earlier on. "Torchwood already gave us all the files set on the case."

Alec tilted his head, matching the angle Rose had positioned hers and he clasped his hands together tightly.

"And you didn't care to inform me about this?" he tried to keep his voice even, not wanting to get yelled at already. Or so Rose figured. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, depending on how this entire working relation goes) for both Alec and Rose, any voice Alec could use, Rose has more than likely already heard it and knows how to derail it from screaming. She hopes.

Dragging in a deep breath through her nose, Rose blinked and clicked her tongue, "What do you think I'm doing right now?"

Alec growled and turned his attention back to his computer, leaning back in his seat and putting his glasses back on before carding a hand through his hair. Rose thinks she hears him mutter something along the lines of, "Being a nuisance." But she can't be sure.

She tries not to smirk.

Soon enough, the remaining Torchwood team and Ellie make it back to the station with lunch and talks of their investigations. They were once more sat around the conference table in the room Torchwood had first been introduced to. They were considering give it a name. So far "the room" was winning out.

Alec and Rose share their information first- meaning that Rose explained most of it because she just wanted to get it over with, and despite Alec's silent groans of not wanting to speak at all, especially not first, he helped her along with his mentions of his own research. They had lists of people to interrogate and would be contacting said people later in the day or the next in hopes to start interrogations- - and god, Rose is getting so bloody sick of all forms of the word, especially as they fall from Alec's stupid jutted bottom lip, and pull yourself together, you're a Tyler woman, for fuck sake- as soon as possible. So far, there were no leads, no suspicious activity in work logs or credit history or anything or the like. His records were clean.

Ellie and Jake had no luck finding any helpful information when they spoke to the Lamb family. The usual happened; lots of crying, some questions, no idea or clue as to why something like this would happen to their beloved family member, and overall grief.

Mickey and Drew searched and examined both Alfie's house and the lot he was found in. They found nothing out of the ordinary and needed to wait for the forensic results to be complete before taking any further action.

"So what you're telling me is that there's absolutely nothing to do? No leads? Nothing at all to look into?" Rose was barely able to contain her eye roll at Alec's frustration.

"There is something," Drew offered slowly.

They still had to meet Steve Connelly.

Alec groaned, "Just so long as I'm not needed there."

He was.


	5. Steve

"Steve Connelly? You're brining in Steve Connelly? What could _Steve Connell_ y have to contribute to this investigation? The first and last time we brought Steve Connelly into an investigation, his given information wasn't even helpful until after we caught the guy and," remembering exactly who said 'guy' was- Ellie's ex husband- Alec cut his ranting off abruptly and cleared his throat as he refused to meet anyone's eye. Lowering his voice, Alec gave a quick sniff before he began again, "He's no more a reliable source than the victims."

The last murder in the town of Broadchurch was Danny. "We've never had a murder," was once said about the town. That was no more than four years ago. Alec had heard that Steve had been called by a big hush, hush government (above government, he thinks now) facility. Back then, he nearly laughed at the thought, as he never believed it. But now? Well. Earlier today, he was told that aliens are real. If that's true, he supposed that anything of the ridiculous and unbelievable, maybe even impossible could happen. So long as the bastard isn't smug about it when he comes in.

"Dunno, I'd say a victim would be pretty reliable. Even deceased," Mickey almost sniffed in mock of the man seated on the other side of his best friend, but suddenly thought better of it.

"Does he always do this?" Rose, whose temple rest on the pointer and middle fingers of the hand closest to Alec, asked Ellie. With a side glance, Alec noticed Rose's thumb sticking out, making the positioning of her hands look like a gun pointed to her head. For a brief moment he wondered about it before chastising himself to look away. "Persists with questions?"

Alec scoffed and rolled his eyes before directing them back to Rose's hand, "I do not persist."

Maybe he should take it offensively. Or maybe he should take it as a warning, or possibly a caution regarding the lady beside him. As Rose dropped her arm to the table and turned her head towards him, he decided to file the thoughts away for later. She quirked an eyebrow at him and failed to notice Ellie doing the same.

"Yeah, you do," the women agreed.

It's only, what? Two o'clock? Three? One? No. And definitely not four. This day could not go any fucking slower. And- AND this was only day one of god knows how many. Alec started to feel a headache build and started rubbing his forehead with his middle and pointer finger, imitating the same hand gesture Rose made only moments ago. This only lasted for a good two seconds before Alec thinks better of himself and curls his middle finger towards his palm, using his pointer to rub at one of his eyes instead. But when he finally stopped and opened his eyes, he's meet with a strange, almost sad expression from Rose. Maybe it's.. Was that.. No, that wouldn't be longing. He saw sadness and longing in every mirror. He knew sadness and longing. And there was no way this lady was sad and.. Why would she be..Why're you thinking about this? For fuck's sake, and now you've probably made some angry face and scared her off because she can't even look at you now and why do you care?

"Right, so Steve will be here within an hour. Jake, did you finger print the family?" Rose straightened her posture, wiped her face of any readable emotion, and took control of the room. She could do that. What she couldn't do is continue to stare at Hardy as if he's the Doctor in disguise and will make a subtle gesture any moment to tell her that he was in character and that everything would be just fine. But it would be. Just fine. Everything would be just fine. Fine.

"Yeah, and I sent 'em over to Mickey-"

"And I put 'em into the lab results-"

"Which should be finished soon enough," Drew finished with a smile broad enough to appear oblivious to what just went on before him. But Rose knew better. He was worried and so were the rest of her boys.

She smiled in return, "Good."

"You didn't say.. How does that work?" Ellie asked with honest curiosity. Though not understanding Rose's reactions, she was not unaware of them, nor was she unaware of Alec. What had happened between them while she was at the Lamb household? They seemed civilized enough when she and, as Rose referred to them, 'the boys' got back to the station. He even held the door to his office open for Rose, who in turn, held the door to 'the room' open for him. And they both thanked each other. Well. If you consider a grunt and nod from Alec to be a 'thanks' then, yeah, sure. She thought that maybe she should keep her eyes on them, but one look around the room showed that there were already three boys ahead of her.

"Torchwood technology," Mickey began to explain and Ellie reminded herself that he was the tech specialist of the group. Oh, how her Tom would probably aspire to be like him. For a second, she thought the thought might scare her. "We have one piece of tech that can do multiple things, including scanning for fingerprints. Comes in pretty handy in abandoned areas. But anyhow, we can get the prints, scan 'em, send it through the Torchwood system in a locked file, unlock the file, and process it into the forensics. Easy enough when you're five or so years trained to do it, but it still takes time," he finished with a shrug.

"Why can't you just put it all in the same machinery?" Now, Alec may have been some grumpy old man, but he was still a man. A manly man that enjoyed machinery and electrical devices from time to time.

"Yeah, we've tried that, actually. But this is the best we could do so far. Actually, this is the latest prototype. The main bosses are trustin' us to test it."

"Why you?" Alec asked, not unkindly.

Mickey smirked in response and leans back in his chair, "'Cos, we've got the daughter of one of the boss's as our team leader."

"I thought your father owned Vitex?" Ellie asked Rose.

"Oh, he does. But he's also one of the main head's of Torchwood. Actually, his main focus and division is the field agents, like us. Not that I get any special privileges from it, other than telling him to tell mum I say 'hello' so I don't have to see her every day I have free. OH!" Rose snapped her fingers before pointing between Ellie and Jake. "Did you get someone to I.D. the body?"

"Both parents came down, and confirmed," Ellie informed them.

"Oh, and we've got his electronics," Drew added. "Figured we'd look over Lamb's hard drives while we're going over forensics later."

"Okay. What else is there to do?"

"Did anyone check the CCTV feeds around the abandoned lot and Lamb's apartment?" Alec abruptly remembered and started to get up so he can head to his office computer.

"Sit."

Rose grabbed Alec's arm to stop him and if anyone thought she pulled her arm back too quickly or that Alec practically obeyed instantly, no one said anything. She positioned her laptop on the table, angling it so that both her and Alec could see. She noticed Jake do the same with his tablet for himself and Ellie, while Drew and Mickey took out their own devices.

"It's almost spooky, the way you four work," laughed Ellie as she admired Jake's quick work.

"You should see us drunk," Drew winked at Ellie, causing Alec to raise his eyebrows at Rose, who kept her eyes trained on her computer as she felt her face heat up.

"I've got the lot," Jake called out.

"I've got the apartment," Rose mumbled, her tongue pressed against the corner of her mouth as she focused her attention to her computer screen.

Mickey and Drew decided on different parts of the roads between Lamb's apartment and the lot. It became a silent agreement that this was how the time waiting for Steve would be spent. Watching CCTV feeds and figuring out their next move. Rose and Alec were leaned in close towards Rose's computer, both careful not to touch the other.

"I'd say we've gotten quite a lot done for the first day," Ellie mused.

"Still have more to do, Benson. There's the house-to-house, another bloody town meeting-"

"Steve," Rose added, slightly dragging out the vowels in a sort of tease.

Alec groaned and Rose had to bite her lips to stop herself from laughing. If Alec noticed her lips twitching (he did) he didn't say anything. And if one corner of his mouth started to tremble (it did) he didn't notice (he did).

"I kept getting calls all morning, the town is scared and demanding answers. They've called another town meeting at six."

"Well we don't want to scare anyone more than they already are, so we better keep you off the streets." Alec rolled his eyes. "I'll do the house-to-house," Ellie offered. Jake said he'd go with her while Mickey and Drew said that it would be best for them to stay at the station to check on the forensics results and "dissect" Lamb's electronics, leaving Rose to attend the town meeting with Hardy.

"What is this, the buddy system?" Alec asked, although with only a little bit of heat.

"Well, we are working a partnership, mate. But don't worry, I can guarantee I'm having just as much fun as you are," Rose said flatly, no sign of heat or sarcasm.

Torchwood would have had to announce their presence at some point, anyways, and it's not as if Rose hadn't done this before. When she first started working for Torchwood, they were hesitant to let Rose put herself in the eye of the media, but with enough, _ahem, words,_ from Torchwood, the media quickly backed off. Sure, sometimes her picture would be put in the paper while on a mission, but those moments were rare and quickly retracted by Torchwood. The only issue is when paparazzi get too close to a case and either get hurt or learn a little too much. Depending on the situation, either retconn or money is enough to keep their mouths shut. However, Rose and her team were very aware that in most towns, their local papers tend to help the police, which happens to be the case for Broadchurch.

Nearly an hour later, and the CCTV feeds gave nothing to further their case.

It was 3:27 when Steve walked into 'the room.' He sat himself down in a free seat around the table, placing himself in front of Rose. First, introductions were made. Then, Steve briefly discussed his workings with Torchwood. It is believed that he has a sort of "psychic connection" to the dead, where he can hear a dead person speak to him mentally. This only happens in the right circumstance. When Steve first "heard from" Danny, it was after he had seen his crime and autopsy photos. With Torchwood's help, he was able to learn to control his gift, with little bits and pieces sneaking in every now and then. [No one's mental shielding is perfect. Well. No one but Rose Tyler's. Not that that's widely known (it's one of Torchwood's biggest secrets and only known to less than ten people.)] One bit that got through was Jude. And what did Jude tell him?

That he didn't do it to himself.

"What? Getting himself killed?" Alec nearly spat.

"I don't know. That's all I'm getting," Steve regretfully replied. "But I saw you on- on the news for the town meeting when I was working on a job and I just- I heard it. I've been to Broadchurch a lot for work, of course. But I never.. I mean, not since Danny. I haven't heard anything here. It's in my contract.. for Torchwood.. that I call, since this doesn't happen as often. I didn't really think- Well I _hoped_ that it would just be a normal case."

"Why's that, then?" asked Alec.

Steve looked down at his lap nervous before shyly looking up at the Torchwood team, "Not that there's anything wrong with Torchwood, it's just.. The last murder here was Danny and it hit even the local towns pretty hard. Didn't want to put that on you. Didn't want to be responsible for putting that on you."

"No," Rose said softly as she shook her head. "You didn't put this on us. Besides, we have a clause in our contracts, me and my boys. If at any point we feel the need to back out and hand the case over to another team, we can. Not that we're planning to," she tried to reassure Ellie.

They group talked more about what had brought the Torchwood team down to Broadchurch, and how Steve could be of any help. Basically, unless he "heard" any more, he couldn't be.

"But you were plenty helpful, enough," Rose smiled as she tried not to leave Steve with any uneasy feelings. "Because of you, we're down here now. That's what matters."

By the end of the hour, there wasn't much left to discuss and Steve was ready to go home.

"That's it? If I remember correctly, at the end of our first meeting, you tried to scare me into believing in you."

Something about the last few words Alec said didn't seem to sit right with Rose. She almost felt a sense of deja vu.

Turning to face Rose, Steve considered her for a moment before his face fell as he told her, "Well there is.. Well when I look at you.. I keep hearing.. I mean, it's sort of like.." For a second, Steve seemed to drift off, his eyes shining as if in a dreamlike state. "Just, years and years of words. A whole millennia of words. All sung in a song I can't quite make out, but there's.. Mostly I keep hearing, 'Bad Wolf' over and over, but there's also- there's something about.. the valiant child who-who died in battle."

Tensing in her seat, and slowly turning pale with each word, Rose held her breath. She hasn't heard either expression in years and suddenly Rose was very glad that she only took one pill instead of two, this morning, as she's still able to take one more. Mickey went to reach for her elbow but she pulled away, "Yeah. She-."

"He."

Rose opened her mouth only to immediately shut it.

"N-," Steve exhaled loudly through his nose as he felt his face heat up under the sudden looks of scrutiny from the fellow males at the table. "Not she. He."

There was a long stretch of silent, the seconds dragging on in the room, before Rose finally spoke again, face without expression and words evenly spoken with calculated breaths, "Thank you for coming in, Steve. We appreciate you taking the time to meet with us."

To say that everyone in the room was stunned, would be an understatement. The Torchwood boys shared worried looks with one another before turning their attention back to Rose, watching her carefully. To her surprise, Ellie was less animated than Rose who smiled kindly at Steve. He couldn't help but attempt to smile back, if even for a moment. Then there was Alec, whose eyes widened under his furrowed brows. Upon the ending of his first meeting with Steve, Alec was utterly speechless, yet here sits this not even 30-year-old woman who was smiling as if moments ago, she hadn't just acted as if she was just told that the world was going to end. Then again, she did say that she's seen the end of the Earth. She's probably seen the end of a lot of planets. Hell, she's probably seen the end of a lot, period. It takes him a moment, but he remembers- what was his name, Simmonds, Jake, yes, that's right, Jake Simmonds- Simmonds said Rose could play both good cop and bad cop at the same time. And suddenly the gun-like pose of her hand from earlier makes sense. Alec, himself, has faced down death itself back before he had his pacemaker. But Rose Tyler? Everyone needs a hand to hold, and for his companion, death chose her. Or maybe she chose him.

So much for uneasy feelings.

"If you'll pardon me for a moment, I think I need to use the loo," Rose calmly said once Steve had left, using her infamous excuse at Vitex events to escape boring or uncomfortable conversations.

She closed the door behind her softly before quickly making her way to the women's bathroom. Fortunately for her, the room is empty. When she reaches the mirror, she leans forward to rest her hands on either side of a sink, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath before opening her eyes and facing her reflection. Face blank, cheeks without a rosy tint, she remembers all those years ago how, on that dreaded last day in her home universe, her mother told her, " _You even look like him_." But that's not true. In a moment like this, the Doctor's eyes would burn, not shine. As she looks in the mirror, there's still light shining in Rose's eyes, despite everything she's been through, despite everything she's seen, despite everything she's done. That was one of the things the Doctor admired about her, most.

 _"You've changed so much."_

 _"For the better."_

 _"I suppose."_

She tried not to think of that day, but that one conversation with her mum has stayed with her.

 _"You'll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there'll be this woman, walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human."_

"Yeah?" she asked her reflection. "Well, if I hurt this much, than how can I be anything but?"

She was not going to think about Steve and what he said. Not yet. She would save those thoughts for when she returns to her hotel room.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a round disk, smaller than her palm. To one who doesn't know, they might look at it and think it to be a very thin compact mirror. What it really was, was a bigger-on-the-inside storage pouch (okay, and mirror on the top inside lid) that the Doctor gave her in place of a purse when they went dancing on a planet that outlawed bags. Dumb law, gorgeous planet, great dancing music, and one of the most wonderful nights of her life. The pouch was small on the outside, making it easy to hide on your pocket (or your bra, as Rose had that night), while its secret transdimensional qualities made for great storage for up to a forearm's worth of anything you want. Right now, the pouch currently held survival supplies, basic self defense supplies, water, some granola bars, a few pictures, and in the closest pocket; Rose's anxiety medication. The pouch was very organize, although, like the Doctor's pockets, Rose has lost track of exactly what was in there. There was probably even an outfit or two; maybe a pair of shoes.

She removed her pills and a small bottle of water. Once her task is complete and a pill had slid down her throat, Rose retired her pills and the water to the pouch before placing it back in her pocket. She checked the mirror one more time, nodding at herself, and then returned to 'the room.'

As scared to death as Rose was, she took half a moment to be grateful that he hadn't said the words that haunted her starless dreams for the past few weeks, "Burn with me."

Rose reclaimed her seat next between Mickey and Alec and smiled at her team. Alec came to the conclusion that maybe Rose and death chose each other. Just as Rose opened her mouth to speak, beeping and buzzing fill the room.

"The forensics are done," Drew quickly accessed an assortment of files on his tablet, Mickey looking over his shoulder until he decided to pull out his own tablet and do the same.

"You're probably gonna wanna start on the hard drives soon, Mick," Jake suggested.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Got all the overrides and whatnot, already. Just gotta figure out what I'm s'posed to be looking' for."

"I'd say start with the emails," that was Rose. "See if him and Wolmer know each other or have similar contacts."

"Right, pullin' Wolmer's files up… Now. This is gonna take a while, though," Mickey said, turning to Rose as he waited for the files to load. He hadn't forgotten what had transpired only minutes ago, but he knew Rose wasn't going to talk about it. Not with Hardy and Ellie around. He knew the Torchwood team would have to drop the conversation for now. Not that they brought it up in the first place. Actually, when Rose left the room, they all sat in silence for several seconds until Ellie got a call from her sons, asking when she would be home. The call ended only seconds before Rose returned.

Still. The sooner they could get an update to Pete, the better.

"How did you get all the Wolmer files already?" Ellie asked.

"When, um, whatever his name is, Brian, maybe not Brian, but whoever it was- when they set me up on their computer to send myself 'whatever I needed' I went ahead and sent myself just that. Of course, it was agreed upon by your Chief and our Heads that I'd do so, but still. And that's how we have the CCTV files, anyways," Drew explained without looking up from his work.

"Ah, I'm guessing that's how you were able to listen to the interrogations, then?" Alec asked Rose. For now, he was also not going to let earlier's moments slide. They still have to get through the town meeting and he plans to do it without her kicking him under the table every time he opened his mouth. He would have to intrude on her thoughts afterwards. Possibly when she was more tired out and vulnerable.

"Pretty much, yeah. And speaking of; we've still got time before the town meeting. Maybe we could continue checking the feeds?"

"Aye, we still need see when and how he left."

"Actually, i think we can help with that," Ellie turned to Jake. "What do you say to us heading out for the house-to-house?"

Jake smiled kindly, "Alright, but I'm driving this time." He turned to Mickey and Drew. "Assuming you don't need the van?"

"Nah, should be fine."


	6. Some Angry Thinking

**1.) Scenes in italics are flashbacks (mostly to the day of the Battle of Canary Wharf)**

 **2.) I have no idea how to write as if I were angry and Scottish, so if I am offensive, please tell me. I know a few Scottish words of phrase and I just really hope that I used them properly. I am so sorry, but I really wanted to try.**

 **3.) I refuse to believe that whole "France on a spaceship" thing I mean what France on a spaceship thing there was no France on a spaceship thing I am not in denial you are in denial hahahahahahahahahahaha that never happened I have no idea what you're talking about**

 **4.) I tried to discretely (like, very super extremely with mighty and great caution) add in, erm, hints(?) as indications for Rose and the Doctor's, erm, relationship? Yeah..**

 **5.) There are hints at suicidal thoughts, and definite mentions of mental illness.**

As much as Rose Tyler prided herself on her ability to keep a cool exterior, she could rarely say the same about her interior; mostly the interior of her own mind.

The drive to the town meeting was mostly uneventful full dull loll toll pull, god if Rose's mind did not shut the fuck up… She knew ooh doo loo nine hundred and two that she was just trying to distract herself, but fuck at what cost frost lost- Okay. Okay, she's done. F- no, fuck that. Lost. She wondered if the Doctor ever thought of her as lost. Lost was easier than gone, like when someone dies. "We lost them," sounds better than, "They're gone." Gone? Gone where? And when will they be back? But lost? You never really knew with lost. And the Doctor hated not knowing. Yeah. Definitely never considered her lost. And why would he? Being lost implied that you could be found. And she couldn't be found.

Mental illness. Rose had a great deal of mental illness. Mental illness mental illness mental illness mental ill mental ill mental mental mental mental mental men men men men men men men men men men men men men men men MEN. Jesus, Rose, calm the FUCK down. But how the hell could she do that? Huh, hah, yeah, hmm, ah, mmm? SHE TOOK TWO BLOODY FUCKING PILLS TODAY WHY WAS SHE NOT CALM NOW. FUCK. FOR FUCK'S SAKE. FUCK.

Ugh.

"So how exactly do we go about this then?"

Oh. Yeah. That was bleeding bloody fucking WHY. She was going insane because she was stuck inside a small car (small compared to her team's big Torchwood issued van), sitting beside the man that looked like the long lost love of her life. No. Not lost. Being lost implied that you could be found. And the Doctor couldn't be found.

Rose cleared her throat and laced her fingers to crack her knuckles before responding in a deadpan voice, "You say what you would normally say, then you direct the attention to me, I introduce myself, and state that Torchwood is here to help and help, we will. Then we answer questions if needed and/or wanted and off we go back to the station where we part ways until the next morning unless someone has any valuable information worth sharing presently."

Maybe she should give him a break. No, no no no no no no no. The universe never gave her a damn break, so what the hell made him so special? Then again, god, she wasn't even angry at _him_ and hell, fuck, shit, she wasn't even angry at the Doctor! She was angry at herself for taking this case without running her own background checks and letting it get to her head and IT HAD ONLY BEEN A FEW FUCKING HOURS. SHIT. Alec probably responded. Probably. Not that she heard. Not that she's paying attention.

Nope. No. You're fine. You're fucking fine. You keep swearing but you're fine. Deep breath. Close your eyes. Deep breath. Don't slam your head into the outer shell of the glove box. Deep breath. Open your eyes. Stare out your window. Watch the world go by, like you watched all of life and love go by as your grip slipped from that lever. Don't cry. There will be time for that later.

Stop acting like such a child, you're a Tyler woman, for goodness sake.

It was just a car ride. In close proximity. And then a town meeting. Sitting even closer, probably. Not that you couldn't handle it. You could handle anything. You'd live.

 _"It's been five and a half hours, Mickey. We have a great deal of work to do and it's just gotten five and a half times harder," Pete sighs._

 _"Yeah."_

 _Rose's first few minutes after the walls closed were spent yelling empty threats at the wall. After a while, she quieted down and said nothing more. Jackie and Pete tried to persuade Rose to leave, but she curled up against the wall and silently refused to move. Eventually, Mickey told them to give her five and half hours. Five and half hours and not a second more and they'll go. Jackie and Pete did not understand the reference nor the request, but they allowed it. Jake stayed silent throughout the entire ordeal._

 _Still curled up on the floor, Rose kissed her fingers before stroking the wall. The gesture was one she often displayed for the TARDIS. She wouldn't get up. She wouldn't. They could could drag her if they wanted. She wouldn't fight them. All her fight was wasted on the wall._

At a stoplight, Alec rubbed his eyes and sighed.

Valiant. It meant determined. Well, it meant more than that, but that was the basis. And courage. Rose Tyler seemed to be the type of person with a rare knack of courage and determination. What the _hell_ does that even have to do with someone dying in some battle, though? Was it that alien she loved and that battle that separate them? He was dead, wasn't he? That alien? Blimey, how could anyone be in love with an alien?

Slowly, so as to be discrete, Alec shifted his eyes sideways to catch a glimpse of this _Rose Tyler_.

She probably liked pretty boys; that was probably what he was.

Not that it mattered.

God, shut it. She only mattered when it came tae the case. _Ha!_ Oh. Aye. She's just nothin, you bloody well fuckin think, as she touches yer arm and tells ye to sit and ye go ever so willingly. Or, or, or, oh, when ye backed the hell down from her starring like she, she, she frightens ye. Don't be a damn wuss. Ye dinnae give up that easily, especially not tae some effin' _lady_. OH, HELL, SHUT IT. Nae, but really, she tore ye the fuck apart the moment she first opened those damned big lips.

Ye glaikit fuckin' bastart, Alec. Ye fucker. Alec Hardy int one to get wrapped up over some woman. Not anymore.

He turned to his proudly angry Scottish blood when he was, well, angry.

AND DAMN WELL RIGHT, YA BAST-

Jus talk- think, whatever- in normal tone.

Nae, dinnae tell me whatta do.

But yer talkin' to yerself.

Ah, shut it.

This was even worse than the first time working with Ellie, where he tried everything not to let himself be pushed around. Hell, he admited, if anything, Alec used to (okay, aye, and maybe still did, definitely, shut up) push her around.

Alec Hardy dinnae get pushed around. Especially not by some, some- oh dinnae- some alien lover and crime fighter 20-something-year old with a need for dominance as a sense of security. And that's what it is, int it? Security. It was why Alec was such a hard arse. Demanding dominance protects ye from yerself and gives ye security over eeryone else. And when the hell did he start comparing himself to her? She was obvious just a stubborn, spoiled-

 _"Blimey, should've known you'd be an insistent one."_

Argh.

Just say something. Anything. Anything, something, just so long as it is out loud and not in yer bleeding fuckin head.

"So how exactly do we go about this then?"

What? No. What the hell. Well. Wait, no. Yer headed to the meeting, with no idea about her position in all this. So there ye go.

"You say what you would normally say, then you direct the attention to me, I introduce myself, and state that Torchwood is here to help and help, we will. Then we answer questions if needed and/or wanted and off we go back to the station where we part ways until the next morning unless someone has any valuable information worth sharing presently."

 _God, this woman is a right fuckin-_

Holy shite, lips are moving, was that said out loud? The hell's even going on?

He snook another sidelong glance in her direction to find her eyes closed. Probably sleeping; never ever heard ye at all. Alright, all in the clear.

God, no need to argue with yerself like a bloody adolescent. Ye stopped doing that the first hundredth time your damn ex-wife told you off for it, dinnae ye?

I'was just a car ride. In close proximity. And then a town meeting. Sitting even closer, probably. Not that ye couldn't handle it. Ye could handle anything. Ye'd live.

 _Jake understood the reference. Five and a half hours; Mickey told him about that adventure. His first adventure. They had ended up on a spaceship; an empty spaceship, at that. His first adventure and it was boring. They walked around and found nothing on this ship. Sure, it smelt like BBQ and there were mirrors that were designed to look like windows, but there was nothing special about them. They were just mirrors. Mirrors that were designed to look like windows. Bit boring, but the Doctor and Rose have a rule. Well, sort of. Five and half hours. If they find themselves in a particularly boring setting, they still wander for at least five and a half hours. Mostly, the rule is used if they get separated: wait five and half hours and if they aren't reunited, go searching for the other. But sometimes, the five and half hour rule is just applied to wandering around bore before finding somewhere more exciting to go._

 _There was a lot that Jake knew about the Doctor and Rose, as Mickey had vented it all throughout his time in this world. It had been two, nearly three years that Mickey had been there and throughout those years, he and Jake has become best friends. It wasn't a quick friendship, but it wasn't a slow friendship, either. They worked their way up to the strong bond they have now, and now, they know all about not only each other, but also the Doctor, Rose and Rickey. Admittedly, it wasn't easy, but Jake was eventually able to accept the loss of Rickey and the gain of Mickey._

 _It had been a hard struggle for Mickey. He did not want to fill the shoes of the man he looked like, nor did he want to replace him. Mickey wanted to make anew, become the person he wanted to be and find out exactly who he wanted to be was. But he still struggled. Rose Tyler is not an easy woman to get over, but he did it. Jake helped a load, but he did it. Sure, he would always feel some unnamable sense of love towards Rose Tyler, but that was okay. He would be glad to call her his friend again. But as he watched Rose Tyler cry over a wall for five and a half hours… Well.._

Nothing spectacular happened at the town meeting. Not that she expected anything spectacular; she'd done this job long enough. Alec tried his best to reassure the frightful town and Rose tried to reassure them that, though, yes, Torchwood is a very emahem, specialem organization, that did not mean that this case was so special that panic should break out. They answered few questions as extra insurance for reassurance, much to Alec's chagrin. Those who attended the meeting did not seem to be in any better a state than before the meeting started. But they did not seem to be too much worse, which Rose supposed couldn't be too bad. Unless they were still processing the given information, only to cause an outbreak of mass hysteria later. Rose hoped this was not the case and would later only disclose this thought to her Torchwood team. As much as she liked Ellie, she seemed far too empathetic about the town and Rose did not wish to worry her further. Any distress that could possibly take place, Roe and her boys would be able to handle. And if Alec's not-so-tough demeanor was anything to go by, Rose was sure that underneath it all, Alec was invested enough in the town to catch any warning signs early.

 _"You've got to pick her up, Mickey," Jackie sniffed. "Don't think she'll be able to do it on her own."_

 _It was like a metaphor. A really shitty metaphor. Of course she wouldn't be able to pick her self up on her own. When Pete died, Jackie had Rose and her family and friends. When Jackie died, Pete had Mickey and Jake and other people that Mickey and Jake only briefly heard of and rarely met. When Rickey died, Jake had Mickey and Pete. When Mickey stayed with Jake and Pete, well he had Jake and Pete. And now, here lies Rose Tyler, and all she wants is the Doctor. She doesn't just want the Doctor because she loves him, but because she knows that the Doctor has no one. Rose will have Jackie and Pete and Mickey and Jake and whoever the hell else but the Doctor has no one. How is he going to pick himself up on his own? Well, he's done it before. But he shouldn't have to. And that's the point. He. Shouldn't. Have. To._

 _But the Doctor isn't here. Rose is. So are Jackie, Pete, Mickey, and Jake. Four people, and only one of them is going to pick up Rose and carry her to the Torchwood van._

The remainder of day had passed in a blur for Rose.

Eventually, they made it back to the station where brief updates were exchanged. Some time later, Rose remembered eating at the hotel. Maybe she had a beer? No, no, she _wanted_ a beer. Hell, she wanted the strongest thing the hotel had to offer. But she doesn't do _that_. Not when it was the first day of a new mission. She was sure she and the boys talked a bit. Rose remembered mostly caring about getting back to her hotel room.

Once in her hotel room, Rose let herself break.

A deep breath was quickly taken in, only to be shortly cut off by a choking sob that ripples through her whole body like an earthquake. What a shite metaphor. What a shite world she was forced to live in. She didn't even want to live in it; it was a decision, not a thought, but she never acted on it. Never. Ever. It was not what the Doctor would have wanted for her, so she didn't. It was her last gift to him. A gift, a promise; the only one she may ever be able to keep. Not that he would know, anyways, and oh, there is so much he didn't know.

A crackling noise left her throat as her eyes burned with unshed tears and her throat constricted. It was her body's way to prevent the screams. Rose buried her face in a pillow, just in case. No need to cause a fright.

She had no idea how long she was curled up, barely breathing, but it felt short of forever.

And then it was over. Quick to come and then quick to leave. The Doctor did that sometimes.

Rose did not cry.

She laughed silently, her throat tight as she once was and again is. It was all because of him.

This reaction would not happen again. Not in Broadchurch.

When she slept, her dreams were not starless. Not at first. Every star was there and slowly, they all burned. She wanted to burn with them. Soon enough, they all disappeared, one by one. She wanted to go with them.

Rose would greet the next morning with a blank face, but she would greet everything else with a smile.

She only ever wanted what she couldn't have, and right now she sort of kind of maybe wanted to be dead. And it had only been a day. Or about one thousand and several hundred days. Not that she counted. Not anymore. Without her Time Lord, Rose found it hard to keep track. To this day, she still found many things hard to do without him.

 _"Mick?" came a voice from above him._

 _While Rose was curled up on the floor; Jackie and Pete took to sitting by a window, Mickey sat in the middle of the room, and Jake sat against another wall, though at one point he stood up./em_

 _Looking up, Mickey saw Jake standing beside him, offering a hand. Mickey took it and stood up but he moved no further, as Jake had placed a hand on his chest and gave him a stern look. Not like Mickey would have been able to move, anyways. And so he watched as his current best friend walked over to the wall and picked up his previous best friend; bridal style. And they let him. No fuss, no fight. Jake began to walk towards a hall with Rose in his arms, and by some unspoken agreement, Mickey and the two Tyler's followed._

His skin was itching with anger. Itching with anger? What the hell kind of expression was that? Next he'd be thinking in the voice of an angry ole Scotsman again an' oh, int that just a delight.

Argh.

Shut it.

He shouldn't continue the case like this; course he woule, though. Death is a severe thing here. Aight, death was a big thing everywhere, but here.. He solved the first and previous death case, he cannae just give this one up because he's, he's, bah, he's frustrated. He's always frustrated. Some high class, high powered lady shouldn't put him off.

"Hot shower or cold shower," he mumbled to himself in his empty house. "Ah, fuck it."

He decided to change into his jim jams and bury himself in his bed.

It had only been a day working beside Torchwood, but Alec and Ellie had been working on this case for five days now with no leads, no hints, just absolutely nothing. Unless Torchwood could find something or the interrogations give way to any clues tomorrow, the case looked blearily hopeless right now.

Oh, and then, there was the matter of the interrogations.. How was he supposed to work side-by-side with this _good-cop-and-bad-cop-all-in-one-and-on-her-own-bloody-fuckin-R-O-S-E-T-Y-L-E-R_? How exactly is that going to happen? What does that even mean? And what the hell could that possibly even be like? Should he be scared? Why would he be scared? Threatened? Intimidated? No… NO. BLOODY NO. This, this, this- _THIS_ blasted woman has driven him barmy all day. Who the hell did she think she was? Coming in and taking his investigation but claiming it as a partnership? And you just WENT with it? Really Hardy, I thought you had more class than that to fall to the whims and charms of- and HELL IT'S NOT EVEN THAT SHE TRIES AND GIVES OFF A CHARM SO WELL FUCK! DOES SHE EVEN HAVE ANY?

Rose Tyler Rose Tyler Rose Tyler there was bound to be plenty said about Rose Tyler.

And so, Alec got out his laptop and conducted a thorough web search on one Rose Tyler. He didn't look for her age because she was too young for him to care, or so he told himself. But let's see; no reported documents on her since before three or so years ago. Vitex heiress, claimed to be daughter to Pete Tyler and Jackie Tyler. Or so the blood tests said. Jackie supposedly died via Cybermen invasion, only to turn up a few years later with her long lost daughter, Rose Tyler. Jackie claimed to have had a midlife crisis (Alec snorted at that) after seeing the Cybermen that caused her to want to seek out the daughter she gave up long ago. There were no claims as to why she gave her daughter up in the first place, although there were rumors that Alec preferred not to think too heavily on.

Before three years ago, Rose Tyler was a nobody. Her life could have gone any which way, but somehow along the way, she fell in love with an alien, only to lose him. And now she and her team are working alongside Alec and Ellie to catch some killers and possibly bust a drug ring. An alien drug ring. Possibly. And possibly some alien killers. And he's just accepted it.

What the hell had happened to _him_?

 _The things was… Rose didn't really have Jake. Rose had Jackie and Pete and Mickey, but not Jake. They didn't know each other, though Jake knew a great deal about Rose. Otherwise, they were strangers. And that just wouldn't do for Jake. Jake knew what it was like to no longer have the love of your life in your life anymore, and if Rose and the Doctor loved each other even half as much as Mickey had always said, then Rose was going to need as much support as she could get._

 _And if Jake really thought about it- and he did- Jackie and Pete would more than likely be spending a great deal of time with each other while Mickey spent his time struggling over this new, erm, development. So where did that leave Rose and Jake? Either alone or together, and there was no way that Jake was going to let anyone do this- whatever the hell this wa- on their own._

 _So if Rose would have him, Jake would do all he could to help her. And anyone and everyone else._

 _"I've got you now."_


	7. Morning

**This only partially follows season 2 canon of Broadchurch. I'm going to avoid most of it and pretend a lot of stuff didn't happen and never existed. Like that French spaceship thing that people seem to think actually happened.**

Rose Tyler woke to the sound of not only the chirping of her alarm, but also the ringing of her phone. Thinking the call could only be from one of her boys trying to make sure she was getting ready to wake up, she ignored the caller id and took to immediately growling into the phone, "Seriously? My alarm _just_ went off! I get it, 'punctuality is the virtue of the lonely' and all that, but I only accidentally slept in that one time because you lot and your bloody fu-"

"Morning, sweetheart."

Nearly choking on the rest of her sentence, Rose coughed a few times before clearing her throat and trying to 'doll-up' a sugary sweet voice, "Dad!" She winced, coughed again, and then tried for a casual tone, "Morning." She even put a tight smile on her face until she remembered that she was alone and on the phone.

"Everything alright?" Rose could almost imagine Pete's eyebrows furrowing with concern. It took her longer than she would have liked to realize why.

She remembered, with a smack to her forehead and curse muttered under her breath, that she had forgotten to call her dad last night.

"Yeah, fine. I'm sorry I forgot to call. You know how the first day usually goes."

"And how was this 'usual' first day?"

"Are you asking as my dad or as my boss?"

There was a short pause before Pete responded, "Both. Your boys gave me their first day rundowns and now I'm waiting on yours."

It was standard for all Torchwood agents to give their 'first day briefs' to their district heads when working alongside outside workforces. It was a safety precaution and general protocol for many reasons; especially when clearance papers were involved. But most importantly, Torchwood needed to know the likelihood of dealing with an alien crisis (as in some cases, some calls to Torchwood are only thought to involve aliens). The only reports they need to worry about afterwards were the annual stacks of paperwork.

Clearing her throat yet again before giving a sniff, Rose thought back on the day before.

 _Well_ , she thought. First there was the new dead body thing. There was the whole getting up early thing. And then there was the whole duplicate of the love of her life thing. And then first thing, she belittled him and called him by his first name. Finally, to top it all off, the whole there being absolutely no lead in the case thing.

But Rose couldn't say most of that.

"Other than no leads in the case- which could have the potential to change after the interrogations and questionings that I'll be leading with the DI today and whenever else needed throughout the investigation- we are convinced that there is definitely alien involvement in some way here. I don't know how many interrogations or questionings we will get through today but I'm sure they'll be more as the case carries on. Leeke was found in the autopsy report of the newly found body. There's no way of telling how exactly it got in the victim's system, but there are what appears to be entry wounds for needles. Otherwise, with such a clean trail- or should I say no trail- there's definitely something wrong. We have not met with their chief super yet, as she was out yesterday, like we were told, but we should be meeting with her by the end of the week, hopefully today, but you know. We were given a private workspace in a conference room or something of the like. The town meeting that I attended with the DI didn't give way to any warning signs or concerns for outbreak but the townspeople are definitely not calm. This is apparently their first murder since the, uh.. That last case with the little boy," the same little boy that paparazzi thought less important, at the time, than the sudden appearance of Rose Tyler. Supposedly a never before heard of heiress-to-be was much more pleasing to the public than more death after the final destruction and lose of all the Cybermen. Sick bastards.

"And we have nothing from the CCTV feeds yet. We have the second victim arriving at his home, but not leaving. I can't speak for the boys, but I personally have not viewed the CCTV footage for the first victim. But I have listened to the interrogation tapes. All in all, not too bad for a first day for us, I think fifth or six for them, which I suppose for them isn't as great since, as said, we have no leads. Also, the case is currently being called the 'Wolmer Case' or well, 'Wolmer and Lamb case' I suppose, so I'm thinking that we may need to change that."

A hum rang through the other end of the phone.

"And as my daughter… how was your first day?"

Rose took a moment to consider her response before coming to the firm decision, "I'm going to have a better day today."

* * *

Alec Hardy came to Broadchurch all those years ago as a punishment; well, penance, and stayed for mostly the same reason. Okay, so he stayed for a lot of shite reasons that caused a lot of shite. Now he's torturing himself.

Well. No. That's not really true.

After the trial of Joe Miller and the long waited close of the Sandbrook case, Alec had taken to rehabilitating himself by staying close to his daughter and relearning how to take care of himself.

But now his penance is over, his daughter is off to university, and he is still divorced, emotionally unsatisfied (but mostly stable), and hasn't gotten laid in- _well_ \- he jokingly (bitterly) considers himself to almost be a monk. He's gone so long without that he just automatically ignores women. Well, he's friends with Miller- Bensen, but she's… _Bensen_. And sure, after his own divorce, he might have had a one night stand, just once or twice, just to see. Just because a few shots of alcohol convinced him he needed it. And he might have tried to proposition Becca Fisher that one time.

He now shudders at the thought and scrunches up his nose every time he find himself near her.

And aright, he has gotten some looks from women and he has looked at some women, but he's a pure blooded bloke. He can't really help it. But he just… He's not content, but he's not discontent. And he was able to finish helping his daughter grow up, and he's finished the Sandbrook case, and he's not dying anymore. Isn't that enough? The rest of it- the loneliness and the part of him that will only ever been mended, but never healed- he will live with it all, and himself, if it's the closest to content he can get to.

He's alive, what more does he need?

Well, for starters, he needs something to do with his time. And payment. After spending over a year on paid leave (not to mention that bloody awful temporary teaching position) as he tried to recuperate and rebuild (or rather just build) his life, he was ready to go back into the field. Still having kept in contact with Ellie, she had told him that she had talked to the chief super who had agreed to talk with Alec about reinstating. She also told him that the small blue house he had briefly vacated was to be put up on the market again soon.

He still isn't entirely sure why he agreed. Sometimes he tells himself that he went back to Broadchurch because he truly didn't know anywhere else.

His welcome back consisted of a BBQ with the Bensen and Latimer families. Well, a begrudgingly accepted dinner with the Bensen family that actually turned out to be a BBQ including the Latimers. They didn't look as surprised as he did, but at least they looked just as uncomfortable.

The rest of the town greeted him with looks of either confusion or blank stares. For a brief moment after his first week back, he considered shaving his beard entirely just to fuck with everyone, but decided that it would leave him too vulnerable and he wasn't ready to part with the safety blanket just yet. He can smile, laugh, even joke now; the beard and pacemaker stood as talismans and remembrances that he was no more the man he was before Sandbrook, than he was the man before he left Broadchurch. This Alec Hardy is still being discovered.

God, when the hell did he change from cynical to philosophical?

See, _this_ is why he needed to busy himself with work again, though nowhere near as busily as he used to.

He just has to hope that this case goes better than his last two murders.

Working alongside with Torchwood could go any which way, really. Alec isn't really sure what to think of that, and isn't entirely sure that he wants to think about it, anyways- especially since thoughts of Torchwood keep leading him back to thoughts of Rose Tyler- so he focuses on getting ready for the day, instead.

It is with a firm decision that he tells himself that he will figure this lady out in all due time.

* * *

Mickey Smith- not Rickey the idiot- sang to himself in the shower as means of distracting himself from worrying about Rose and the DI. He would be lying if he said that a few times the day before, that he hadn't looked over at the Doctor's look-a-like and imagined he was just the man, himself, pulling some big comical practical joke. That maybe all his time spent in the parallel world was just him hallucinating. Maybe he had accidentally gotten drugged and Rose and the Doctor were just playing along. Maybe he had gotten hurt on one of his more dangerous trips with the Doctor and Rose and fell unconscious long enough- and with enough powerful drugs- to have made this whole thing up and somehow he had sent Rose and himself into his head to try to pull him out. But that just couldn't be right. He knew it wasn't right because he hadn't once gotten hurt while travelling in the TARDIS.

So then, once he had finally decided that he was, in fact, still and truly in the parallel world, he came to the conclusion that maybe he had gotten hurt during a Torchwood call. But that couldn't be true because he had always woken back up and healed nicely whenever his missions had gotten him hurt.

In the last and final conclusion, Mickey Smith had come to the firm decision that all of this really was a big fat comical joke; but rather than it being played on him by the Doctor, it fell to the already heavily weighed down shoulders of Rose Tyler, and he'd be damned if he and the boys didn't take extra precautions to help hold her up.

* * *

Drew Graham was having a fairly good morning. Unlike two nights prior, he had gotten a good amount of sleep the preview night. He may have been somewhat disoriented, but with his wedding drawing close by four months, he was becoming less and less satisfied by the mornings that he woke up without his wife-to-be. Not that he minded travelling for his Torchwood work, but he was really started to miss his Eliza.

Because of this mission, she was going to have to choose how to decorate the placement cards without him. At least there's some perks to being a travelling Torchwood agent.

Brushing back the bush of curly hair from his face, Drew readied himself to head out of his hotel room and meet with the team.

* * *

Jake Simmons, a soft smile gracing his face, had just ended the phone call with his husband- the one he had woken up early just to hear the voice of, despite having had talked last night- by the time he knew the rest of the Torchwood team would be starting to wake.

* * *

Ellie Bensen's morning started the same as any other: wake up after the second snooze of her alarm clock, she showered, dressed, then went to make she her boys were up and getting ready for school before she went downstairs to start breakfast.

Eventually, her boys came down to eat.

Tom caught his bus with just enough time to give his mum a peck on the cheek, and a big sloppy kiss to the curly mop of hair on top of his brother, Fred's, head. About an hour and a half later, Ellie shuffled little Fred out the front door, and together they sat on the front stoop, waiting for his own bus.

Once her boys were gone, Ellie took a moment to appreciate the steadiness of the solitary quiet by closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. Then she went back inside her house to make her second cup of coffee of the morning as she readied herself to leave for work.

She had an intriguing feeling about the day- not the same intriguing feeling she had about the Torchwood team; but something similar enough and it made her antsy to get going.

* * *

"Forensics shows that there's signs of leeke both within Lamb's home and where his body was found."

"Right, but that's what I don't understand." Rose shook her head. "Why's there leeke in their homes? 'Cos there were traces at Wolmer's house, too, I thought? And that just doesn't make sense, unless they were killed at their homes."

"But that can't be right." Alec scratched at an eyebrow. "We have footage of Wolmer leaving his house."

"But do we have footage of Lamb?"

"Yeah."

Jake tapped away on his tablet a few times before facing the screen towards Rose. Alec leaned in towards her and took out his glasses to get a better look. With a greater deal of will power than Rose knew was necessary, she held herself stubbornly in place and kept her eyes on the screen. It was bad enough when he walked in this morning wearing a blue suit that reminded her of the color of the TARDIS.

Having pulled up and fast-forwarded through CCTV footage, they were able to see Alfie leaving his house through a backdoor and heading straight towards a field.

"But that's the opposite direction of the lot."

Now having five sets of eyes on her, Ellie swallowed thickly as she motioned at the screen.

"See, I've lived here just about most of my life, so I know these parts. And that empty lot, which hasn't been used for anything in years, mind you, is all the way on the other side of Broadchurch. The way he's walking, when he reaches the other end of the meadow, he'll be near the front of my house, which faces the end of Broadchurch that that lot is in, but also the back of his house."

"When was that lot last used for something? And what for?"

"I don't know; you'd have to pull up the records."

"Already on it," Drew mumbled, though stayed focused on his own device.

It took him a few minutes, but eventually Drew found what he was looking for.

"It used to just be a parking lot. The whole land around is a park, just about, with a large children's playground a while down in one way, and the beach down another. Says here that they built parking lots closer to both the park and beach. But there's a walkabout in the surrounding woods all around it, so you could start hiking down any trail and it wouldn't matter where you parked. You could come in from any which direction. I guess most people stopped using the parking lot, or just started using it less and less, hence the low lack of CCTV cameras in the area. Or so I would guess. We could scope the area and do some alien tech scans, but it looks like there's going to be a lot of land to cover, so it will take time."

For a long stretched minute after Drew stopped talking, the room fell quiet, aside from the even rhythms of everyone's breathing.

Licking her lips, Rose eventually came to a decision as to how to proceed, and turned to look at Alec, waiting for him to catch on and meet her eye. Their gazes held steady in the absent silence.

Finally, with the corners of her lips twitching upwards, Rose spoke, "Ever scan for aliens before?"


End file.
